Saemaul Undong Center and Training Institute in South Korea 2012

1. Jai Chang LEE
President of Korea Saemaul Undong
Center

2. 1
〇 Launched as a Korean model of rural development
〇 Proposed by President Park Chung-Hee to reform
Korean rural villages
☞ “Movement for a better life”
1) Mental reform movement of villagers
2) Movement of action & practice, rather than theory
3) “Can-do spirit” and positive thinking through
experience

3. 2
○ Korea was ruined by the Korean war in the 1950s
○ GDP per capita in 1960 was below $100
○ Implemented five-year economic development plan twice,
from 1962 → Realized economic growth in 1970
→ Rural sector remained underdeveloped
○ President Park Chung-Hee : “National development
cannot be achieved without rural development”
☞ Wealth accumulated from industrial development was invested in
the rural area
☞ Supplied 335 sacks of cement to all rural villages in 1971
○ Background of Vitalization
☞ Rural villagers gained their own farm land through farm land
reformation
☞ Lowered illiteracy rate through education
☞ Korean men learned spirit of cooperation through military service

4. 3
○ Government’s Role
☞Motivate spirit of diligence, self-help, cooperation
☞Provide opportunity of spontaneous participation
○ Supplied 335 sacks(40kg each) of cement to 33,267
villages in 1971
☞ Gave the guideline to select and implement necessary projects
○ Villagers elected Saemaul leaders through villagers’
meetings
○ Villagers made decisions on projects and implementation
strategies
○ Development of village entry roads
☞ Mobilize necessary labor force for projects
☞ Secure land for road development
☞ Specific scheme to procure gravel and sand required
to make cement

5. ○ Evaluation of all villages after one year (1972)
☞ 16,600 villages that had successfully implemented Saemaul
projects were specified as outstanding villages
☞ Additional support (500 sacks of cement, 1 ton of iron bar)
to outstanding villages
○ Evaluation of all villages after one year (1973)
☞ 6,000 additional villages had implemented projects without
government support
○ Villages were classified into three levels from 1974
☞ Basic-level village, self-help level village, self-reliant level village
☞ Different projects were implemented according to village level
☞ “Priority support to outstanding village” policy was applied
- differentiated government support

6. ○ Government provided support similar to the pumping
water in a water pump in order to develop the spirit
4
of diligence, self-help and cooperation
○ Implement visible and feasible projects that can
benefit villagers through democratic procedures
○ Apply policy of “priority support to outstanding
villages” to induce spirit of self-help and cooperation

7. 4
〇 SMU is a mental reformation movement that puts emphasis on
its spiritual background
☞ diligence, self-help, cooperation
4
〇 Diligence
☞ The early bird gets the worm
☞ Big fortune is blessed by heaven, but small fortune comes
from hard work
〇 Self-help
☞ Heaven helps those who help themselves
☞ Even a country cannot relieve poverty
☞ You may lead a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink
〇 Cooperation
☞ Two heads are better than one
☞ 1+1=2+∝

8. 5
〇 Initial Projects of SMU
☞ Government support
- Basic raw materials(cement, iron bar) and technical guidelines
☞ Environmental improvement projects were implemented by villagers
☞ Basic environmental improvement projects
4 - Modernization of kitchens, fences, and sewerages, expansion
and pavement of village entry roads
- Construction of public laundry facilities, public wells
☞ Leadership building through Saemaul training
〇 Step Two
☞ Pushed forward production & income increasing projects based on the basic
infrastructure of villages
☞ Upgraded the saemaul spirit and project experience developed from initial
Saemaul projects
☞ Village infrastructure projects
- Construct bridges, improve streams, pave farming roads, cultivate farming land,
develop irrigation facilities
☞ Income increasing projects
- Livestock farming, floriculture, non-agricultural projects, cooperative production,
green houses, specialty products
☞ Professional technical training on construction and farming

9. 〇 Step Three
☞ Implemented various projects for common profit based on the spirit of
cooperation and self-help accumulated through previous projects
☞ Raising of public funds
- Saemaul credit union, village stores, cooperative project committee,
4 selling food during special events
☞ Public village facilities
- village libraries, barber shops, public storages, rice mills, workshops,
public farm machines
〇 Step Four - Expansion Stage
☞ SMU expanded from the rural sector to urban areas and developed into a
nationwide movement
- Urban Saemaul Undong : promoting public order, kindness and cleanliness
- Corporate & Factory Saemaul Undong : saving energy, improving product quality
☞ Pushed forward a national movement to overcome economic crises
- oil shock, IMF economic crisis, win-win movement between labor and management,
gold gathering movement
☞ Various social voluntary services to help poor neighbors
☞ Developed into a new national movement that can adjust to changes in society
- Green Korea, Smart Korea, Happy Korea, Global Korea Movement

10. 6
〇 Mistakes in the Implementation Process of Saemaul Undong
-> Villagers learned to search for methods of improvement
in process of time
-> Government gave appropriate guidelines at the right time
4
☞ Villagers faced technological boundaries in the process
of autonomous implementation
☞ Strong emphasis on competition put a great load on
villagers
☞ Projects focusing on visible results resulted in one-off,
unsustainable projects
- Weakened villagers’ spontaneity
☞ Rapid changes in the community caused confusion in
traditional culture and values

11. 7
〇 First Success Factor
☞ Induced spontaneous participation through efficient support from
4 the government at the right time
- Villagers became participative as their confidence was ignited through
the possibility of economic development and rural advancement
found in the government’s effort to industrialize Korea, the poorest country
in the world.
〇 Second Success Factor
☞ Saemaul projects were implemented in a democratic way in which
villagers made their own decisions.
- The government only provided technical guidelines. Villagers elected
Saemaul leaders, and selected the Saemaul projects to implement in
their villages.

12. 〇 Third Success Factor
☞ Dedicated Saemaul leaders and Saemaul Training (leadership training)
- Saemaul leaders were unpaid voluntary workers who were elected by villagers
- Saemaul leaders played the role of a leader based on Saemaul training
4 they received at the Saemaul Undong Central Training Institute.
- Saemaul awards were given to leaders in accordance with their
accomplishments to raise morale.
〇 Fourth Success Factor
☞ Priority support to outstanding villages induced competition based on
self-help spirit.
- Differentiated support to villages categorized into three levels – basic level,
self-help level, and self-reliant level
- Villagers worked harder on their projects to upgrade their village level and
receive more government support
〇 Fifth Success Factor
☞ Saemaul projects were implemented in “village” units
- Traditional villages were able to bring about cooperative spirit and
common profit that worked for SMU.

13. 8
〇 Korea achieved rural development through SMU and
succeeded in economic development and democratization
4 in a short period of time
Government’s adequate
leadership & support
Villagers’ spontaneous Saemaul leaders’
participation& practice dedicated service
= Cooperative work of these three parties is a good model of rural
development for any country in the world.